Donald Trump told right-wing radio host Michael Savage there would be "common sense" if Trump appointed him head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as president. Savage has called autism "a fraud, a racket," said PTSD and depression sufferers are "losers," advised people not to get flu shots because you can't trust the government, theorized liberals have been driven insane because of seltzer bubbles, claimed President Obama was intentionally trying "to infect the nation with Ebola," and once told a caller he was a "sodomite" who should "get AIDS and die."

Trump On Savage As NIH Head: "You'd Get Common Sense"

Trump On Savage's Offer To Head NIH: "You'd Get Common Sense If That" Happened. During his October 6 radio program, Savage offered to head up NIH "when" Trump becomes president. Savage cited "fake global warming research" as evidence that "there's virtually almost no real honest science anymore":

SAVAGE: We have such corruption right now in science itself that there's virtually almost no real honest science anymore and the best evidence I have for that is the fake global warming research. Almost every study comes out that's warped. It's all corrupt. Again Donald, I'm going to put it out because I keep saying it because people are hearing it. When you become president, I want you to consider appointing me to head of the NIH. I will make sure that America has real science and real medicine again in this country because I know the corruption. I know how to clean it up and I know how to make real research work again.

TRUMP: I think that's great. And I think that frankly --

SAVAGE: No, I would leave radio for that. Donald, I would take a cut in pay that would be astronomical, but I would do it for this country. You could pay me a dollar a year and I would do it, just to make sure we have real science and medicine.

TRUMP: Well, you know you'd get common sense if that were the case, that I can tell you, because I hear so much about the NIH and it's terrible. [Cumulus Media Networks, The Savage Nation, 10/6/15]

Trump To Savage: "You've Been Amazing. And You've Been Really Nice To Me And I Appreciate It." After Savage told Trump that he now feels proud to be an American because of his candidacy, Trump replied: "That's very nice for you to say that. And you've done an amazing job and I look at your ratings and I look at you -- just you and, you know, you've been a special guy. You've been amazing. And you've been really nice to me and I appreciate it." [Cumulus Media Networks, The Savage Nation, 10/6/15]

Savage Regularly Pushes Bogus Medical Information

Savage On Autism: "A Fraud, A Racket ... In 99 Percent Of The Cases, It's A Brat Who Hasn't Been Told To Cut The Act Out." Savage claimed in 2008 that autism is "a fraud, a racket. ... I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don't have a father around to tell them, 'Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don't sit there crying and screaming, idiot.'" Following Savage's remarks, as ABC News noted, "autism organizations and medical professionals alike voice[d] their outrage." [Media Matters, 7/17/08; ABC News, 7/21/08]

Savage Slams PTSD And Depression Sufferers: "Weak," "Narcissistic," "Losers." Savage pushed junk science by accusing those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, including military veterans, of being "weak," "narcissistic," "losers." Savage added that "we're being laughed at around the world. No wonder ISIS can defeat our military." [Media Matters, 10/21/14, 10/26/14]

Savage Told Listeners Not To Trust The Government On Flu Shots. WND, which hosts Savage's website, wrote of his comments regarding the flu vaccine in an article headlined, "Michael Savage: Don't Trust Feds On Flu Shot":

Asking listeners to put aside his political orientation for a moment, talk-radio host Michael Savage questioned the federal government's recommendation that citizens get a flu shot.

"Did Harry Reid take a flu shot? Did Barack Obama take a flu shot? Did Barack Obama's lovely family take a flu shot? Did Joe Biden take a flu shot?" Savage asked.

"Which of the mandarins took the flu shot?"

He explained that he was talking specifically about vaccines and was not advocating the avoidance of all pharmaceuticals.

Known for his many books on herbal medicines, Savage acknowledged he has benefited from "an awful lot of life-saving regular medicines."

"The flu vaccine?" he asked. "No, I wouldn't take it." [WND.com, 1/14/13]

Savage: Obama Wants "To Infect The Nation With Ebola." As Right Wing Watch noted, Savage suggested in October 2014 that Obama was guilty of treason because he wants "to infect the nation with Ebola." Savage later suggested Obama wants America to get Ebola "to make things fair and equitable" in the world. [Media Matters, 10/14/14]

Savage Falsely Blamed The 2014 Surge Of Undocumented Children From Central America For Spreading A Deadly Strain Of The Enterovirus. [Media Matters, 10/8/14]

Savage: Lesbians Are "Jealous That They Don't Have An AIDS Epidemic That They Can Cash In On." [Media Matters, 6/24/04]

Savage Theorized Liberals Like Sen. Bernie Sanders Have Been Driven To "Insanity" Because Of Seltzer. Savage theorized that seltzer and "the little bubbles of carbon dioxide" have poisoned liberals' brains. He added, "If I had the time, I'd go back to my scientific background and I would do an epidemiological study of the use of seltzer and liberalism and the insanity of liberalism." [Right Wing Watch, 9/16/15]

Savage Has Pushed Violent And Offensive Rhetoric

Savage Was Fired From MSNBC After He Said A Caller Was A "Sodomite" And Told Him To "Get AIDS And Die." The Associated Press wrote in 2003:

MSNBC on Monday fired Michael Savage for anti-gay comments.

The popular radio talk show host who did a weekend TV show for the cable channel referred to an unidentified caller to his show Saturday as a "sodomite" and said he should "get AIDS and die."

Savage: Arabs Are "Non-Humans" And "Racist, Fascist Bigots"; "Kill 100 Million" Muslims. Savage said that Arabs are "non-humans" and "racist, fascist bigots"; claimed Americans would like to "drop a nuclear weapon" on an Arab country; and that "these people" in the Middle East "need to be forcibly converted to Christianity" in order to "turn them into human beings." Savage has also said of Muslims: "[people] are very depressed by the weakness that America is showing to these psychotics in the Muslim world. They say, 'Oh, there's a billion of them.' I said, 'So, kill 100 million of them, then there'll be 900 million of them.' I mean, would you rather die -- would you rather us die than them?"[Media Matters, 4/14/04, 4/19/06]

Savage Has Pushed Paranoid And Conspiratorial Rhetoric About President Obama. Savage warned in 2009 that"we're going to have a revolution in this country. ... these people are pushing the wrong people around." He also feared that "Obama will stir up a race war ... in order to seize absolute power," and the "radical left," including Obama, "dream[s]" of Maoist revolution with "death camps." Savage has also pushed conspiracies about Obama's birth certificate being a forgery and wondered if Obama visited his grandmother in Hawaii not because she was ill but because he needed to "fudge the birth certificate." [Media Matters, 10/11/10, 10/23/08]

For more of the countless examples of extreme rhetoric from Savage, go here, here and here.

ABOUT OUR RESEARCH

Our research section features in-depth media analysis, original reports illustrating skewed or inadequate coverage of important issues, thorough debunking of conservative falsehoods that find their way into coverage and other special projects from Media Matters' research department.